The
FAA continued a dynamic research and development program
in support of its mission to ensure the safe and efficient
use of the Nation's airspace, to foster civil aeronautics
and air commerce in the United States and abroad,
and to support the requirement of national defense.
To achieve these goals, during FY 1998, the FAA continued
to acquire new automation systems for the National
Airspace System (NAS). The agency installed display
system replacements at 12 air route traffic control
centers, bringing the total installed to date up to
16 of the eventual 21 that will be installed. The
FAA also installed nine voice switching and control
system backup systems at en route centers that will
be used for training purposes. At the end of FY 1998,
the FAA had installed 10 of 22 of thesesystems. Installation
of the host and oceanic computer system replacementbegan
with 11systems

delivered
to en route centers, the FAA Academy, and the William J. Hughes
Technical Center. The agency upgraded the existing terminal
automation system software and hardware at 21 terminal radar-approach
control facilities nationwide. These upgrades established
a common hardware and software baseline, providing new maintenance
efficiencies for the agency. Work also continued on a new
standard terminal automation replacement system that will
provide a platform for future automation enhancements to meet
the increased traffic demands.

The
FAA made substantial progress in two programs that aid controllers
in reducing incidents and accidents that are attributable
to runway incursions. The first, the Airport Surface Detection
Equipment Model 3 (ASDE-3), provides radar surveillance
of aircraft and airport service vehicles at high activity
airports. The second, the Airport Movement Area Safety System
(AMASS), visually and aurally prompts tower controllers
to respond to situations that potentially compromise safety.
The agency commissioned ASDE-3 systems at Memphis, Dallas/Fort
Worth, and Dulles International Airports, bringing the total
number commissioned to 30 out of 40 systems. The agency
also commissioned 15 Mode S, Monopulse Secondary Surveillance
Radars, bringing the total to 130 systems of 148 commissioned.
These systems provide highly accurate aircraft identification
and altitude information to air traffic controllers. In
addition, the FAA awarded a contract to the Raytheon Corporation
for up to 127 Air Traffic Control Beacon Interrogator replacement
systems, which will replace 30-year-old, secondary-surveillance
beacon systems.

In
cooperation with NASA and industry, the FAA's Aeronautical
Data Link Program continued research and development on
next-generation data link applications. As part of that
effort, a Government-industry consortium, the FAA-sponsored
Flight Management System-Air Traffic Management Next Generation,
developed a "Required Functional Capabilities Document,"
outlining the required flight operations (air and ground),
air traffic management, communications, and navigation and
surveillance capabilities. The FAA and NASA sponsored a
study to compare aircraft fuel consumption during flight
management system­derived flight paths and air traffic
management­derived flight paths to validate the concept
of flight profile negotiation via data link. The FAA and
NASA also jointly sponsored and authored a test plan to
use data from revenue aircraft to validate the benefits
of incorporating user information into air traffic automation
functionality.

The
FAA made continued progress toward the implementation of
the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), which will provide
the availability, integration, and accuracy for GPS to be
used for precision civilian navigation. During the fiscal
year, the FAA completed the installation of 25 reference
and 2 master land-based stations necessary for the WAAS
to achieve initial operating capability in the summer of
1999. A partnership of the FAA, NASA, DoD, and the aviation
industry made substantial progress in moving the NAS toward
free flighta concept that could ultimately allow pilots
to choose their own routes, speeds, and altitudes during
flight. This free flight concept could improve safety, save
time and fuel, and be a more efficient use of airspace and
our natural environment. Efforts toward a Global Navigation
Satellite System continued to produce results. Cooperative
agreements with Canada, Mexico, Iceland, and Chile, as well
as cooperation with Europe and the Far East, represented
measurable progress toward seamless worldwide coverage.

The
FAA's en route automated radar terminal system became fully
operational at all offshore facilities during the fiscal
year. The FAA reduced the vertical separation standards
from 2,000 to 1,000 feet over North Atlantic airspace and
implemented the new standards at the New York oceanic center,
allowing for the addition of two north-south routes to the
North Atlantic airspace. Ground-to-ground data link communications
via the air traffic services interfacility communications
system also became operational between Oakland, California,
and Japan and between Anchorage, Alaska, and the Russian
Far East. This enabled a more efficient transfer of aircraft
navigation information and provided more timely position
and performance data to controllers.

The
FAA commissioned its 350th automated surface observing system
to automate weather observation gathering and dissemination
during the fiscal year. The FAA unconditionally certified
the Weather and Radar Processor (WARP) program, which is
the first program to receive such certification. WARP is
a system that receives and processes real-time weather data
from multiple sources and produces displays of weather information
for multiple users to support the en route environment.
The Integrated Terminal Weather System (ITWS) program was
installed as a prototype at New York's LaGuardia Airport
and completed its preliminary design review. This is an
automated weather system that provides near-term (0 to 30
minutes) prediction of significant terminal area weather,
integrating data from radars, sensors, and automated aircraft
reports. The FAA's Runway Incursion Reduction Program and
NASA's Terminal Area Productivity Program completed the
data analysis and final report on the joint demonstration
of the Low Visibility Landing and Surface Operations project
at Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport. The demonstration
allowed the FAA to integrate several operational and research
and development surveillance systems to provide real-time
seamless coverage, conflict alerts, identification, and
information sharing of targets on the airport surface. The
FAA continued to improve wind shear detection capability
by commissioning nine Terminal Doppler Weather Radars. At
the end of FY 1998, this improved capability was available
at 38 major airports.

The
FAA and NASA jointly sponsored the development of a prototype
for a worldwide aircraft noise impact model. In April 1998,
at the fourth meeting of the International Civil Aviation
Organization's Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection,
the FAA successfully promoted the inclusion of further model
development into the current work program with the commitment
of continued FAA and NASA support.

The
FAA continued its advanced research activities in a number
of critical aviation safety areas, including structural
integrity, nondestructive inspection, and crashworthiness.
For example, in conjunction with the U.S. Air Force, the
FAA has developed a new user-friendly software tool, Repair
Assessment Procedure and Integrated Design (RAPID), that
is capable of static strength and damage tolerance analysis
of fuselage skin repairs. The FAA began deploying the Safety
Performance Analysis System, a web-based automated risk-based
analytical tool, to all aviation safety inspectors. As of
September 1998, more than 2,000 aviation safety inspectors
had received training and been granted access to the system.
In April 1998, the FAA made RAPID 2.1 software and supporting
documentation available to the public through the World
Wide Web. In September 1998, the FAA teamed with NASA and
DoD to sponsor the Second Joint Conference on Aging Aircraft.

The
FAA teamed with Boeing to construct and operate the Airport
Pavement Test Facility, which will be used to explore and
validate new pavement design, construction methods, and
paving materials. Researchers conducted a successful evaluation
of the prototype Advanced Taxiway Guidance System during
FY 1998. They collected data from subject pilots that clearly
indicated that the implementation of such a system would
enhance airport safety by reducing the chances of incorrect
turns and/or runway incursions, particularly in night and/or
low-visibility operations. During the fiscal year, the FAA
ordered the retrofit of approximately 3,000 airliners in
the U.S. fleet with cargo compartment fire-detection and
suppression systems because of demonstrated hazards of aerosol
cans in passenger luggage during a cargo fire and the effectiveness
of halon extinguishing agent in preventing aerosol can explosions.
The FAA also reestablished a flight loads data collection
program for large transport airplanes.

The
FAA continued to lead the Nation in research and development
activities to prevent explosives, weapons, and other threat
materials from being introduced on aircraft. During FY 1998,
to detect weapons in checked luggage, the FAA worked with
its industry partners to support the certification of an
upgraded InVision explosives detection system, the CTX 5500DS,
and develop a Prototype 3 View X-Ray System and an advanced
quadruple resonance research prototype. To enhance checkpoint
security operations, the agency worked in partnership with
the aviation community to complete laboratory evaluations
of 6 trace detection systems, leading to the deployment
of more than 350 machines at domestic airport checkpoints.
To optimize and standardize security system operator performance,
the agency deployed computer-based training and screener
selection tests to 18 of the 19 major domestic airports
and deployed threat image projection equipment to the Atlanta,
Detroit, and Seattle airports for data collection and evaluation.
Researchers also are working with international partners
to examine potential development of trace detection techniques
for cargo and to establish interagency cooperation for conducting
baseline evaluations of cargo inspection systems. In addition,
researchers validated wide-body aircraft vulnerability estimates
by explosives testing, certified an LD3 hardened container,
and, with Boeing, conducted aircraft vulnerability validation
with explosive tests on a pressurized L-1011 airframe.

During
FY 1998, the FAA continued an ongoing effort to develop
reliable, valid, and sensitive human-performance metrics
and baselines to support system-performance tests and evaluation
during acquisition. These measures are essential to evaluate
changes in system hardware, software, and procedures. Researchers
at the Civil Aeromedical Institute, from the U.S. Air Force,
and from Japan continued their assessments of the effects
of bright lights as a potential fatigue countermeasure for
air traffic control personnel working midnight shifts. Human
factors specialists continued to explore several display
concepts designed to improve the quality of information
available to the busy air traffic controller.

Human
factors specialists also continued work to enhance the performance
of pilots and aircraft maintenance technicians by developing
techniques that will allow the airlines to assess pilots
in a more standardized way, target deficiencies, and provide
needed training. The FAA worked on developing advanced data
collection and analysis systems to allow air carriers and
FAA oversight offices to monitor the effectiveness of pilot
training systems. For aircraft maintenance technicians,
new computer-based training programs provided concentrated
instruction on concepts such as human error and teamwork.
Human factors researchers also participated in a joint FAANational
Institute of Occupational Safety and Health 5-year study
of airline cabin air quality. Areas of concentration included
the potential routes of transmission of disease from an
infected individual to other airline passengers in the same
cabin, the reproductive health problems of flight attendants,
and the health consequences of repeated exposure to higher
levels of cosmic radiation at various altitudes.

During
the fiscal year, FAA's Associate Administrator for Commercial
Space Transportation monitored a new record of 22 FAA-licensed
commercial space launchesmore than 50 percent higher
than the previous yearand issued two new launch site
operator licenses for new sites in Virginia and Alaska,
doubling the number of such commercially or State-operated
launch sites. The FAA issued nine license amendments, including
four renewals. The FAA briefly suspended one license in
an enforcement action to correct a potentially dangerous
situation and completed 27 compliance inspections relating
to commercial launches. The Office of Commercial Space Transportation
compiled and published its annual low-Earth orbit (LEO)
commercial satellite market projection and collaborated
with its Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee
to produce its geostationary Earth orbit market projection.

The
FAA also published in the Federal Register the final rule
relating to financial responsibility requirements for licensed
launch activities and continued work on a proposed final
rule updating commercial space transportation licensing
regulations relating to launches from Federal launch sites.
It also undertook a major new initiative to develop a concept
of operations to integrate the needs of space transportation
into the NAS. The Office of Commercial Space Transportation,
Air Traffic Control, the FAA's Office of General Counsel,
and the U.S. Air Force agreed to work together to provide
an organizational framework to facilitate the development
of an integrated Space and Air Traffic Management System.
By the end of FY 1998, the agency had completed a draft
"Commercial Space Transportation NAS 2005 Concept" document
for internal coordination.